The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has
reacted to the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter
Onnoghen.
President Buhari suspended the embattled CJN on Friday, January 25, 2019, following allegations that he failed to declare his assets.
Dogara, who described the President’s action is unconstitutional, added that Nigeria’s democracy is on fire.
The Speaker said Buhari has issued a notice that Nigeria has entered full blown dictatorship by suspending Onnoghen.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
Read the Dogara’s complete statement below:
With
the unconstitutional suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)
by President Muhammadu Buhari, the world has been served with notice
that Nigeria is now a full-blown dictatorship. This did not come as a
rude shock except to those that have been blind to the gradual but
progressive erosion of democratic values in the polity as President
Buhari’s Government has never hidden its disdain for the rule of law.
We have watched in disbelief as the Government
recklessly deploys institutional prerogatives; routinely flouts the
rule of law; subverts and assaults democratic Institutions; refuses to
accept opponents as legitimate; suppresses citizens civil
liberties(especially those of opponents) and trample underfoot the
media. In short, the Government’s tyrannical and authoritarian
credentials are loathsomely legendary.
No provision in Sections 157 and 292 of the
1999 Constitution as amended supports the President in purporting to
suspend the CJN or swearing in an acting CJN. The whole idea of a
limited government is that the President’s powers is limited by law and
it is ultra vires his powers to act in the absence of explicit
legislative authorization. That is representative democracy at its best
which our 1999 Constitution as amended guarantees.
President Buhari suspends Onnoghen, swears in Tanko Mohammed as acting CJN
It is instructive to note that our
Constitution does not contemplate or presupposes a situation whereby the
Judiciary will have a suspended CJN and an acting CJN at the same time.
Therefore, it is right to posit, as some have done that the President
now has his own Chief Judge to do his bidding while Nigeria has a
sitting CJN until he is removed in line with the provisions of the
Constitution.
The awfully crude annexation of the judiciary
by the President in violation of his oath of office and the Constitution
cannot be for any other reason except, as alleged by so many, to
prepare the judiciary ahead of time for the purpose of conferring some
aura of legitimacy to the contraption that the 2019 general elections
may after all become.
I therefore call on the President to remember
that he has no better legacy to bequeath other than a good name: which
cannot be achieved without honour, character and integrity. Honour and
integrity demand that he upholds his oath of office by reversing this
assault on our Constitution and following the manifestly clear and
unambiguous constitutional procedure for the removal of the CJN if he
must be removed. Anything short of this demeans all of us.
To our citizens, we must now head the warning
of the Irish lawyer cum orator, John Philpot Curran who said, “the
condition upon which God had given liberty to man is eternal vigilance:
which condition if he breaks, servitude is at once the consequences of
his crime, and the punishment of his guilt”. Despotism can only prosper
in Nigeria if good men and women do nothing.
I also call on all lovers of freedom and
democracy all over the world to rise to the occasion and demand of this
Government and the President to halt the march to anarchy and bedlam:
which dictatorship promotes. The world has an experience in this and it
must not allow this unmitigated disaster on Nigeria before it acts to
restore sanity.
As of today, Nigeria is now Germany in the
wake of the 1933 Reichstag fire. Our democracy is on fire; ignited by
the very people who swore to protect and defend it. That this fire must
not convert the Chancellor to Fuhrer as it happened in Germany in 1933
depends on our collective response and that of the international
community. We must not bow our knees to dictatorship: not now, not ever
again.
Dr Bukola Saraki [Twitter/@bukolasaraki]
Saraki reacts
Also, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has condemned Buhari’s action, describing it as a gross violation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to him, the duty of benching Justice
Onnoghen should be a joint effort between the executive, legislature
and the judiciary.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome in his reaction, called on the National Assembly to shut down in protest of Onnoghen’s suspension.
